A Keeper by Graham Norton

Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland after her mother's death, intent only on wrapping up that dismal part of her life. There is nothing here for her; she wonders if there ever was. The house of her childhood is stuffed full of useless things, her mother's presence already fading. And perhaps, had she not found the small stash of letters, the truth would never have come to light.

40 years earlier, a young woman stumbles from a remote stone house, the night quiet but for the tireless wind that circles her as she hurries further into the darkness away from the cliffs and the sea. She has no sense of where she is going, only that she must keep on.

It was told in alternating chapters of then and now.  It was easy to tell the 2 stories apart..  At first I enjoyed the now storyline more, but gradually the then storyline became fascinating.

A sad story with that was beautifully told and with a very satisfying ending.

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but instead she is met by his sharp-tongued sister, Marin. Only later does Johannes appear and present her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in unexpected ways . . .

Nella is at first mystified by the closed world of the Brandt household, but as she uncovers its secrets she realizes the escalating dangers that await them all. Does the miniaturist hold their fate in her hands? And will she be the key to their salvation or the architect of their downfall?

Weird, twisty mystery about a house of secrets. The miniaturist of the title was an unnecessary, strange addition to the story that didn't add anything to the book.

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener by M C Beaton

Agatha is taken aback when she finds a new woman ensconced in the affections of her attractive bachelor neighbour, James Lacey. The beautiful Mary Fortune is superior in every way, especially when it comes to gardening - and with Carsely Garden Open Day looming, Agatha feels this deficiency acutely.

So when Mary is discovered murdered, buried upside down in a pot, Agatha seizes the moment and immediately starts yanking up village secrets by their roots and digging the dirt on the hapless victim. But Agatha has an awkward secret too . . .

Set in an English village and very much an English cosy mystery.  I didn't like the main character so found it very hard to get into the book.

Dissolution by C J Sansom

Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers ever seen. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved.

But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body. His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege - a black cockerel sacrificed on the alter, and the disappearance of Scarnsea's Great Relic. Dr Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery and death. But Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes.

The mix of well researched historical detail and crime fiction made this an absolute page turner. Very enjoyable read.

The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North

My name is Hope Arden. I am the girl the world forgets.

It started when I was sixteen years old. 

A father forgetting to drive me to school. A mother setting the table for three, not four. A friend who looks at me and sees a stranger.

No matter what I do, the words I say, the crimes I commit - you will never remember who I am.

That makes my life tricky. It also makes me dangerous . . .

Interesting story idea, compelling read.  The secondary storyline of a sinister mobile application called “Perfection”, which accumulates millions of minute behavioural, financial, and relationship data points about its users and trains them to modify their behaviour — to the extent of becoming a completely different person — in the pursuit of personal perfection was also very interesting and I could see the possibility.

The Other Mrs Walker by Mary Paulson-Ellis

Fiftyish Margaret Penny returns to cold and secretive Edinburgh after some unspecified failures in London. She camps in the box room of her mother, who is not especially glad to see her. She takes a dead-end job looking for information to identify indigents who die without relatives or documentation. Her first "client," an old woman found frozen to death in an unheated flat, intrigues her, and before long her search has taken her back to London. 

By jumping around in her flashback sections, and suggesting a family history involving madwomen in the attic, a nefarious family business, illegitimate children, crooked lawyers, nude paintings commissioned by a rich patron from a dying artist, and the strange appearance and disappearance of a ruby brooch, Paulson-Ellis keeps her readers guessing.  

There was a bit too much jumping around in the timeline and the end was unsatisfying.  As the reader you worked out how everyone was related, but the main character, who was doing all the investigating, never found out.

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo

In 1930s colonial Malaya, a dissolute British doctor receives a surprise gift of an eleven-year-old Chinese houseboy. Sent as a bequest from an old friend, young Ren has a mission: to find his dead master's severed finger and reunite it with his body. Ren has forty-nine days, or else his master's soul will roam the earth forever. 

Ji Lin, an apprentice dressmaker, moonlights as a dancehall girl to pay her mother's debts. One night, Ji Lin's dance partner leaves her with a gruesome souvenir that leads her on a crooked, dark trail. 

As time runs out for Ren's mission, a series of unexplained deaths occur amid rumours of tigers who turn into men. In their journey to keep a promise and discover the truth, Ren and Ji Lin's paths will cross in ways they will never forget.

A very interesting story that kept me entertained, but not compelling to pick up if I got distracted by something else.  It was great to see the names of places we went through when travelling and the mention of foods we tried and saw.